Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Evidence found for the Higgs boson direct decay into fermions

23.06.2014

For the first time, researchers at CERN have found evidence for the direct decay of the Higgs boson into fermions – another strong indication that the particle discovered in 2012 behaves in the way the standard model of particle physics predicts. Researchers from the University of Zurich made a significant contribution to the study published in Nature Physics.

For the first time, scientists from the CMS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN have succeeded in finding evidence for the direct decay of the Higgs boson into fermions. Previously, the Higgs particle could only be detected through its decay into bosons.

“This is a major step forwards,” explains Professor Vincenzo Chiochia from the University of Zurich’s Physics Institute, whose group was involved in analyzing the data. “We now know that the Higgs particle can decay into both bosons and fermions, which means we can exclude certain theories predicting that the Higgs particle does not couple to fermions.” As a group of elementary particles, fermions form the matter while bosons act as force carriers between fermions.

According to the standard model of particle physics, the interaction strength between the fermions and the Higgs field must be proportional to their mass. “This prediction was confirmed,” says Chiochia; “a strong indication that the particle discovered in 2012 actually behaves like the Higgs particle proposed in the theory.”

Combined data analysis The researchers analyzed the data gathered at the LHC between 2011 and 2012, combining the Higgs decays into bottom quarks and tau leptons, both of which belong to the fermion particle group. The results reveal that an accumulation of these decays comes about at a Higgs particle mass near 125 gigaelectron volts (GeV) and with a significance of 3.8 sigma. This means that the probability of the background alone fluctuating up by this amount or more is about one in 14,000. In particle physics, a discovery is deemed confirmed from a significance of five sigma.

Measuring the Higgs decay modes Three different processes were studied, whereby the UZH researchers analyzed the Higgs decay into taus. Because the Higgs particle is extremely short-lived, it cannot be detected directly, but rather only via its decay products. The bottom quarks and taus, however, have a long enough lifetime to be measured directly in the CMS experiment’s pixel detector.

The University of Zurich and the Large Hadron Collider The University of Zurich is actively involved in the LHC at CERN with five experimental research groups: The groups headed by professors Florencia Canelli, Vincenzo Chiochia and Ben Kilminster conduct research with the CMS detector, Professors Ulrich Straumann’s and Nicola Serra’s groups with the LHCb detector. For the analysis and interpretation of the data, they are supported by the groups under professors Thomas Gehrmann, Stefano Pozzorini, Gino Isidori and PD Dr. Massimiliano Grazzini.

The CMS detector at CERN The CMS detector measures the energy and impulse of photons, electrons, muons and other charged particles with high precision. Different measuring instruments are arranged in tiers inside the 12,500-ton detector. 179 institutions worldwide are involved in the construction and operation of the CMS detector. The Swiss institutions are the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute, which jointly developed and constructed the CMS pixel detector.

The IPH presents a solution at HANNOVER MESSE 2015 to make ship traffic more reliable while decreasing the maintenance costs at the same time. In cooperation with project partners, the research institute from Hannover, Germany, has developed a sensor system which continuously monitors the condition of the marine gearbox, thus preventing breakdowns. Special feature: the monitoring system works wirelessly and energy-autonomously. The required electrical power is generated where it is needed – directly at the sensor.

As well as cars need to be certified regularly (in Germany by the TÜV – Technical Inspection Association), ships need to be inspected – if the powertrain stops...

The Atlantic overturning is one of Earth’s most important heat transport systems, pumping warm water northwards and cold water southwards. Also known as the Gulf Stream system, it is responsible for the mild climate in northwestern Europe.

Scientists now found evidence for a slowdown of the overturning – multiple lines of observation suggest that in recent decades, the current system has been...

Because they are regularly subjected to heavy vehicle traffic, emissions, moisture and salt, above- and underground parking garages, as well as bridges, frequently experience large areas of corrosion. Most inspection systems to date have only been capable of inspecting smaller surface areas.

From April 13 to April 17 at the Hannover Messe (hall 2, exhibit booth C16), engineers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP will be...